


Sun Spots

by kimberriez



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Friendship, Identity Reveal, Light-Hearted, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 10:36:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11621784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimberriez/pseuds/kimberriez
Summary: On a trip to the beach Kim and Alix start a friendly volleyball match and invite Adrien and Marinette to play against them. As the game gets more heated Marinette can't help but feel like Adrien's acting strange, almost like he's figured something out that he can't wait to tell her.





	Sun Spots

**Author's Note:**

> I'm reveal trash and that's really all this is. Whoops. A quickie reveal one-shot for the simple joy of writing it.

The morning had dawned bright and early, the sun’s rays steadily increasing in strength throughout the day. Now approaching mid afternoon, the wisps of sunlight that filtered through the gauzy drapes of the beach house were almost too hot as Marinette skirted away from them, gathering her things as they lay strewn across the bed. Ladybug instincts told her that hot was better than cold, but the part of her that had been Marinette first shied away from the heat and the sunlight.

“I thought you said you liked the coast.” Alya’s voice filtered in from the open doorway and Marinette glanced up to find her best friend’s head framed in the doorway; her hazel eyes curious, but her brow furrowed. Marinette chewed her lip thoughtfully as her stomach twinged ever so slightly. She knew Alya had one hand cocked on her hip even though she couldn’t see it.

“I _do._ ” Marinette rolled over the side of the bed to scoop up the beach bag Tikki had settled herself into for the day. “But…” she gestured to herself as Alya stepped into full-view, both hands at her her hips. Her eyebrows swept up towards her brow-line incredulously and Marinette bit her lip, an embarrassed heat tipping her ears. “Freckles.” She gestured to herself and Alya rolled her eyes, still smiling and Marinette looked away quickly to pick at the neckline of her cover-up, trying to stretch it over the height of her shoulders.

“You’re worried about freckles?”  
  
“I’ll get a mustache!” The words leapt from her lips before she could catch them and Alya stopped in her tracks to snort before scooping Marinette up off the bed into a one-armed hug.

“You will _not._ C’mon.”

Marinette felt the tips of her sandals catch against the floor as she nearly stumbled, pulled from the bed and across the room. Her fingers gripped tightly onto the handles of her bag as Alya led her out of their room and into the inn’s breezy white paneled hallways.

“Besides,” Alya was murmuring conspiratorially in her ear now and Marinette felt her brows furrow as suspicion pulled like threads of anxiety at her fingertips. “Who’s to say Adrien doesn’t love your freckles?”  
  
Marinette felt herself burn as she squirmed to escape her best friend's side-hug, but Alya was taller and had significantly more leverage. She could’ve escaped had it been a life or death situation, but under the current circumstances Marinette found herself dragged in front of most of their class.

They’d clearly been waiting for them to come out and Marinette skimmed the crowd before dropping her gaze, her heart skipping guiltily in her chest. She had been stalling a bit on purpose, she’d been so excited for the trip beforehand she hadn’t taken the time to be properly nervous until the moment she’d pulled her suit from her luggage when it had all slammed into her at once.  She couldn’t make out their faces beyond her embarrassment except to catch Adrien smiling kindly at them and she chewed her bottom lip. Of course he would be understanding.

“And here I thought you’d be too embarrassed to come out cuz of your suit.” Kim’s taunt was followed by a half-sarcastic leer and Marinette, dragging her mind away from Adrien’s boundless kindness, allowed herself a snort. She was proud of her suit, she’d spent enough months toiling over the idea of what she wanted that when she’d found it she’d worked nearly nonstop on the project. The red and white almost stained-glass inspired colorblock halter bikini set was piped in black. It was modern, and a much more dramatic look than the florals and spots she usually favored, but the delicate white crochet sun-cover and the mess of her loose bun softened the look.

“And _why_ would I be embarrassed about this?” The comeback was easy and she said it almost without thinking and she allowed herself a smug smile as the rest of the class ooh’d and Alya clapped her on the shoulder with a grin.

“C’mon, let’s go already!” Alix had bodily shoved an elbow into Kim’s side before dragging him off towards the direction of the water. The rest of the class followed the redhead down the small path that led from her uncle’s beach-side bar and hotel to the small, nearly private Biscayan beach.

Marinette scrambled forward a few steps to catch Alya as she hurried up the path towards Nino and Adrien as they hung back from the rest of their class. Alya had slung her arms around the boys’ shoulders, leaning into Nino as he was ever-so -slightly taller than the blonde on her other side. Marinette felt her lips quirk as happiness bubbled in her chest, her best friend’s boyfriend grinning back at her, his fingers giving Alya’s shoulder a light squeeze.

A rustling against her thigh caused her to glance downwards to find Tikki peering out from the crack in the zipper of her beach bag, her indigo eyes glowing with cheer and Marinette smiled down at her kwami, grateful that they could share in their happiness for her friend, even if Marinette’s own personal life had thrown itself into a tizzy.

Over the past three years of their group’s friendship Marinette had finally managed to talk in full, coherent sentences around Adrien Agreste. At first she’d been glowing with pride, the shared secretive grins with Alya fueling her growing sense of accomplishment until weeks later when she’d had an encounter with some bad luck. Chat had swung by her balcony ‘to be friendly’ since she had been out enjoying the fresh evening air. Over the course of their late night chat he’d spoken to her about Ladybug with such glowing affection Marinette had found herself _blushing_ , of all the heretical things. It’d been months since and she still lacked quite a bit of her usual cool with the black cat, able to keep her front of polite, and sometimes amused, disinterest… mostly.

A heavy sigh left her lips as she focused forward to find Alya and Nino arm in arm, looking back at her with twin amused grins and Marinette felt her eyebrows furrow as she opened her mouth to demand what they were grinning about when she felt a soft tap on her right shoulder. She spared a glance to Tikki to find she’d already hidden herself deep within the bag before tilting her gaze upwards.

“Everything all right, Marinette?”  
  
She sucked in an instinctive breath as Adrien looked down at her with concerned spring green eyes and she felt her lips twist into what she’d meant to be a smile, but the way she could feel her lips quivering wasn’t very encouraging. She took a deep breath, worried her lips between her teeth and decided to try again.

“Y-Yeah, I, uh, was just thinking, I guess?” Not as articulate as she’d been hoping for, but at least all the words had all been in the proper order.

His eyebrows shot into his bangs as his lips twitched to hide a smile and Marinette felt the heat of embarrassment peak in her ears. Forcing herself to take a deep calming breath, she eyed him from underneath her bangs. His smile had dipped into a worried frown and Marinette felt her traitorous heart skip a beat as her cheeks, already warm under the glowing sunlight, burned.

“...You know you can talk to me, we’re friends.” His eyes gleamed with pride at the word ‘friends’ and Marinette felt her lips curl into a smile.

“Yeah, I just-” Her words died on her lips. She couldn’t exactly tell him that her heart was torn between him and Chat Noir, could she? Heart skipping erratically she wracked her brain for an excuse. Desperate to look anywhere but him her gaze flicked to Alya for a second and inspiration struck. “Freckles?” She hadn’t meant for it sound like a question and Adrien’s smile quirked up into something of a smirk as he stared back at her, curiosity gleaming behind spring green.

“Freckles?”

“Yeah, umm, I get more in the sun, and more where the sun hits directly.”

He studied her face for a minute and Marinette used most of her Ladybug inspired willpower and stubbornness not to flinch away from his critical gaze, even as a polite smile still lingered at the corners of his lips.

“So?”

“Uhm…” Her words stuck in her throat stunned by his simple disregard of her, vain though it was, concern. “Well, that would be shoulders.” She shrugged them as she spoke. “Face in general.” She waved her hand in front of her face and he nodded along, ever the great listener. “And especially here.” She pointed to her upper lip with a grimace and he rose an eyebrow, clearly mystified by the distaste pulling at her features. She sighed heavily, heat plucking at her cheeks again, she couldn’t believe she was going to admit this to _him_. “Mustache…” she waved her hand vaguely and watched as surprise widened the blonde's expression before incredulity settled back into its place.

“I doubt it’s that bad…”

“You should see me with foundation on, it’s the only part it doesn’t cover,” she grumbled and his gaze quirked toward her face again.

“Good thing you have great skin, then.” His words were meant to be more of statement of fact than a compliment, but Marinette’s crush that just wouldn’t die reared its head again and she felt her cheeks warm to the point of outside recognition. His eyes widened for a moment as pink slithered up from his neck and onto his cheeks, his hand rising to cover his lips.  His gaze shifted rapidly between the rolling dunes that now surrounded him and the blush that lingered in her cheeks. “Sorry.” He winced and Marinette shook her head, a rather pleased smile tugging at her lips.

“No, thank you, I just wasn’t expecting a compliment on my complexion from a _model_.” The light, teasing tone she infused the words with didn’t go unnoticed as Adrien chuckled his eyes alight with humor and Marinette couldn’t help how her heart was touched.

“Well.” His smile slipped into a full-blown grin and Marinette felt her heart stutter in her chest as he shook out his hair in the sunlight with exaggerated care. Breathless, she was caught between blushing and laughing, her heart somersaulting so awkwardly it was nearly painful.. “I suppose I am something of an expert.”

She felt herself scoff as she looked back up at him biting her lip to keep the unabashed grin from her face. The words were on the tip of her tongue when their feet shifted from the firm packed-down path to the loose waves of the  sun-warm sandy beach and she half-stumbled, the conversation flying from her mind.

“Hey you two!” Alya voice lilted over to them and Marinette felt herself twitch at the knowing smirk that curled her best friend’s lips.

“Shall we?” Adrien smiled at her and Marinette nodded, her thoughts scrambled by the knot of excitement pulling at her chest. Hurrying to join the rest of her class, she couldn't fight the self-satisfied smile that tugged at the corners of her lips as she glimpsed Chloe’s pout.

They’d quickly settled in, blankets and umbrellas strewn across the otherwise near-empty beach. Kim and Alix had finished putting up a beach volley-ball net and were prowling the class looking for competitors, Marinette couldn’t help but smile at her classmates as they shrunk away from the athletic pair. Marinette scooched back under the shade the beach umbrella provided and glanced over her shoulder at Juleka who offered her a watery smile, the pale skinned girl refusing to move even when Rose had begged her to go down to the water, wishing her well before ducking back into the shade.

“All right Adrien, I know you’re down for a challenge.” Marinette’s gaze was drawn back out into the sun-bright field of sand in front of her where Kim had wrapped his arm around Adrien’s neck. The taller boy grinning over his elbow and Adrien's lips quirked into an awkward smile, the glimmer in his eyes belied the joy he felt at being included. “Go pick your partner.” Kim released him with a nudge and Adrien stumbled away from the jock, his feet sliding almost elegantly against the slippery sand as he began his march back towards the rest of the watching class.

“Dude, don’t even think about it.” Nino clutched Alya’s arm as she burst into laughter beside him, her arm squeezing him tightly. The DJ wasn’t known for being particularly athletic and Marinette couldn’t help a smile as she watched the pair huddle away from the potential athleticism.

“I wasn’t!” Adrien laughed through his words and Marinette glanced towards the blonde, his hair practically glowing in the sunlight, only to find him walking hands in his pockets over to where she and Juleka sat huddled away from the sun. He stopped in front of her, a wide grin showing off a perfect row of bright white teeth and Marinette felt her heart flutter as he smiled down at her. Damn handsome boy. “Marinette?”  
  
“M-Me?” she stumbled over her words and Adrien nodded gently with another flash of a grin quirking his lips as his hands shifted from his side to his hips as he grinned down at her expectantly.

“Her?!” Chloe’s shout cut across the low-hum of their other friends murmuring to themselves. Marinette watched as Adrien rolled his eyes, her lips quirking at the wry humor pinching Adrien’s brows.  
  
“What, you’re going to help me _win,_ Chloe?”

Marinette could barely detect the sarcastic lilt to his voice, and couldn’t muffle the smile as she pushed herself to stand, brushing sand from her legs as she shucked off her sandals, the beach wasn't too hot to stand on if she was moving around.

Chloe pouted, her hands reaching almost instinctively to her hair before she huffed and collapsed back into her lounge, even _she_ couldn't argue that she'd be the best choice for a volleyball match. Sabrina perched herself on the armrest of Chloe's chair handing her a bottle of water, teal eyes mirroring Chloe’s rather put-on look of petulance.

“Ready?” Marinette grinned at the the blonde boy and he glanced back at her with a smile, a curiously familiar competitive glint staring back at her from behind bright green.

“Always.”

 They had started the match relatively strong, but had fallen quickly behind. Alix and Kim had a distinct height advantage, Alix ever so slightly taller than Marinette and Kim towered over Adrien, whose growth spurt had had a much more shallow curve than most of the other boys in their class. They were all athletic, that much was clear by the sheer amount of hustle on the court and the sweat beading against their skin.

Marinette bit her lip as she shifted uncomfortably in her lightweight crochet sun-cover, it was white, but all the sprinting and jumping was causing her to warm to uncomfortable levels, sweat beginning to prickle against her chest and brow. She glanced at Max who held the unofficial scorecard on his tablet, the unbalanced numbers glaring back at her. They’d both won a set and now the match depended on the last fifteen points, Marinette and Adrien trailing ten points to Alix and Kim’s twelve.

“Need a break?” Alix stood with her hand on her hip, the ball resting under her arm, her lips curled into a smirk and Marinette threw a glance over to her belongings where her water bottle sat with Tikki in her bag.

“Grab some water?” Adrien came up behind her and Marinette glanced back at him sideways. Sweat was dewing along his brow and the neckline of his white tank top and Marinette felt a combative stubbornness burn in her chest as Alix scoffed behind her. Clearly her offer had been mocking. Adrien’s gaze left her face to turn to Alix with a wry expression she’d very rarely seen before. “I don’t see what’s wrong with that, considering we didn’t take water breaks between sets.”  
  
“It’s probably a good idea, Alix.” Kim set a heavy hand on the small girl's shoulder and she whirled on her partner about to argue as Adrien tapped Marinette’s shoulder and nodded over to their belongings.

“I don’t want to give them an excuse to undermine us when we win,” Marinette grumbled under her breath, her heart skipping when Adrien choked back a laugh beside her, grinning as surprise flitted across his features.

“Well, there’s a solution for that,” he murmured back conspiratorially. As the incredulity of his statement scrunched her features he winked and Marinette felt the temperature of the beach rise several degrees as she glanced away. Her gaze found Alya and Nino, both giving her over-enthusiastic thumbs ups and wild grins. She could see from his feet that Adrien had turned back towards the court, “I mean you don’t _mind_ do you,? I’m sure you’ll continue to trounce us, water break or not.”

Marinette spun to look at him, nearly dropping her bag as she struggled with the zipper. Since when did Adrien Agreste _shit-talk.?!_

“Good point!” Kim hollered back amidst a hearty chuckle and Marinette pulled out her water bottle, glimpsing an encouraging wink from Tikki as she slid the zipper shut again.

Marinette glanced at Adrien over the rim of her water, watching as he pulled a long drink himself. She felt her eyes narrow as she watched him, polite as ever, strike up a conversation with Juleka who had perched herself at the edge of the shade to watch the match her lips curled into an entertained smile. His gaze flicked to her as she dropped her bottle back on the blanket and Marinette felt her lips purse, hands swinging up her her hips as he blinked almost innocently back at her, something _alive_ glimmering in his eyes.

“Since when do you talk shit M. Agreste?” The sass she used to deal with Chat leaked into her tone and at his startled expression she felt her cheeks burn and nerves string tightly in her stomach. _Just roll with it, play it off._ The part of her usually relegated to Ladybug crept into her thoughts and she offered him what she hoped was a playful smirk.

“Am I not allowed?” He bit his lip in what was an intentional expression of cuteness and Marinette killed the scoff as it was building in her chest, her eyebrows quirking despite her.

“Well, I mean, of course you are, _and_ it was well played.”  
  
“Thanks."

He’d seemed almost worried at her earlier comment and Marinette felt something click as she stared at him for a moment longer. There was a part of Adrien that felt like he  _should_ _n't_ be saying these thing.  Unsure how to continue their conversation Marinette gave him the most sympathetic smile she could manage and received a small smile in return, one that was a somber than anything since the match had started and Marinette sighed. _Even when I can talk to him I can’t say the right thing._

She gave another rough sigh as she tightened her hair into pigtails and threw her cover-up over her shoulders and onto her bag, frustrated as the sun pricked at her back and she rolled her shoulders.

“Damn, Mari!” Nino half laughed half shouted and Marinette jumped backwards, nerves tingling up her spine and down her arms. Her cheeks burned as she turned to look to her friends who were all staring back at her, even Alya looked properly stunned.

“What?” She glanced towards Adrien to find him staring as well and her felt her lips string into a pout, her ears beginning to burn as she glanced down, wondering what she could have possibly spilled on herself.

 _Oh._ She felt a wry smile pull at her lips as the blush on her cheeks cooled and cold nerves coiled like eels in her gut. She didn’t exactly prance around Paris in her swimwear, and her self-designed  wardrobe was decidedly modest compared to some of the things the other girls in _lycee_  wore. None of her classmates had seen this much of her in a long time.... how _was_ she going to explain the muscles? She’d always been petite and thin and it hadn’t taken much time as Ladybug for things to start showing.

“Mmm.” She bit her lip as she looked around to her classmates, most of them staring at her until she met their gaze and they looked away. She shifted nervously on her feet as she looked to Nino and Alya. Nino looked stunned but was giving her a double thumbs up from behind Alya. Alya, who was staring at her with her eyes narrowed in a way that meant Marinette was going to be interrogated after this. At least the match gave her time to think of an excuse.

“Whoah, Adrien did you know about this?” Kim was on his way over to them, his gaze switching rapidly between them to find Adrien staring back at him, a proper blush blooming on his cheeks.

“E-Excuse me?” he stumbled over the words and Kim sighed dramatically, his eyes rolling.

“By the look of you, clearly not.” Kim grinned and Marinette frowned between the boys, before she glanced at Alix who gave her an encouraging smile before she rolled her eyes in the boys’ direction.

“Hey assholes, let’s _go_!” The redhead shouted across the court and the Kim swiveled with an approving nod to her before marching back over to his side of the net.

Adrien looked back down at her and Marinette could nearly see the question forming behind his lips.

“I go running.” It was lame and flimsy, but it would have to do. She could embellish on it later and hopefully for now the thin veil of magic separating Marinette from Ladybug would help. It couldn’t do _everything,_ and it certainly hadn’t helped her come up with a convincing half-truth.

Adrien seemed to almost bite back a laugh, his eyes dancing as his smile quivered and he led them back to the court.

“Yeah? Me too.”

Getting back into the game was easier than Marinette had thought, the shifting ground was difficult to move on, but something of Ladybug’s grace remained with her as she slid across the sand and managed a perfect set for Adrien before nearly stumbling to the ground. She looked up just in time to see the ball flying back down into the sand across the net and she swiveled her grin towards Adrien as she righted herself. He beamed back at her before he looked to the nearly tied score-card before smirking across the net at Kim and Alix.

“Nice save!” Adrien came up beside her for a moment and Marinette allowed herself a pleased blush, her heart pulsing giddily somewhere up near her throat. Just because she wasn’t falling all over herself around him anymore didn’t mean she wasn’t allowed to preen in warmth of his compliments.

“I thought it was going to be too high, I didn’t have that much control.” She knew her smile was a little shaky, but she could probably play it off as being partially out of breath. His head quirked to the side, his eyes glimmering with something not unlike curiosity before a sideways smile slid across his perfectly arched lips.

“I’m a pretty good jumper.”

Marinette blinked at him for a moment as he smiled at her for a second more before hurrying back into place in the back of the court. Marinette turned to stare intently back at Alix as it was her turn to serve. A loud thwack echoed through the air as Alix glared down the ball’s path and Marinette followed it, grimacing. From its arc she could already tell it would land in the dead space between her and Adrien. Her feet moved without her even realizing she’d started, her brain catching up to her reflexes and following through. She shuffled forward a few steps, her left hand beckoning Adrien forward as she slid to the side and as he rushed forward she dropped in behind him, easily switching positions without saying a word. She watched as he leapt, higher than she would’ve expected from a model and a fencer, (he _did_ play basketball, but even still) and smashed the ball right past Kim’s ear, the jock flinching away as the ball buried itself in the sand several feet from Alix’s side.

“Kim!” Alix was fuming and stomping her way over to the ball, glaring black at him.

“Dude, it was coming right for me!”

“This is _volleyball_ , that’s a _good_ thing.” Alix grabbed the ball and hurled it over at them, hardly glancing across the net, but Marinette caught it easily as it sailed into her arms, appreciation for the red-head’s athleticism causing a wry smile to quirk at the corner of her lips. She _almost_ felt bad they were catching up. She turned to Adrien to find him grinning at her, green eyes alight with excitement. Marinette felt the smallest of blushes touch her cheeks under her already flushed and dewy face as she grinned back. _Almost._

With a fluid teamwork Marinette hadn’t been expecting, but had willingly allowed herself to fall into she and Adrien had started to dominate. They’d easily evened out the scorecard and with a gentle sneaking lob just over the net, Marinette had pushed them into the lead. Cheers echoed from every person she glanced at, just like they had every time Alix and Kim has scored. Alya and Nino were whooping, but no one really cared too much who won, they just wanted an exciting game.

“Two more points.” Adrien caught the ball with both hands, his green eyes flicking to Kim for half a moment, brow puckering ever so slightly. His weight had shifted to mitigate the force at which Kim had thrown it towards him with. Marinette frowned back at the jock and his expression turned sheepish as Alix shuffled away from him, their competitive streaks were starting getting the better of them. Marinette glanced at Adrien and his grin fizzled slightly. “Part of competing is losing. She doesn’t always beat Kim, after all.” He offered a hesitant smile, very nearly reading her thoughts and already trying to allay her worries. “She’ll be okay.” There was a definite hopefulness lingering behind his words and Marinette bit her lip before she nodded.

“It’d be worse if we let her win.”  
  
“Agreed.” Adrien pedaled backwards to the service spot and Marinette readied herself, her feet shifting lightly in the sand. “Rip the band-aid off quickly?” There was an odd expression on his face, something caught between doubt and mischievousness and Marinette felt herself hesitate before she  answered. Her mouth hung open for a second and her heart skipped an uncomfortable beat. It was almost like he was asking for her permission, or looking to her for guidance.

“Maybe not?” She shrugged a shoulder at him and he smiled widely anyway, lobbing the ball quickly into the air and Marinette swung around, nearly breathless as she watched the ball sail in a long lob towards the back line. She watched a smirk appear on Alix’s face before she dove forward, sliding herself under the ball down to her knees, ready for the long rally that Adrien had apparently _initiated on purpose_.

They were weaving around each other, tossing the ball between them and hitting the ball back and forth as well as they could, but Alix seemed almost possessed by Nike herself. She was tearing across the sand, making impossible save after impossible save, Kim half-staring in awe before running, nearly startled every time, to complete her plays. Frustrated, Marinette shook out her hands, her fingers were throbbing from the last awkward hit she’d sent over the net as she watched Adrien make a good save, his green eyes narrowed in concentration. Marinette took a deep shaky breath and turned back towards the net folding her hands once again. She hadn’t thought she’d miss the neigh-indestructible Ladybug suit playing _volleyball._

The ball sailed over her head and she felt, more than saw, Adrien moving behind her and she stepped away, hearing his hit and watching as the ball headed straight for the sand on the other side of the net. Alix made contact with the ball, but if flopped up limply before landing in the sand beside her and much to Marinette’s relief the red-head half- smiled back up at them.

“Some rally.” She flicked the ball up into her hands with her toes with ease and lobbed it over to Kim; pausing to catch her breath by her partner. “What in the world do they teach models these days?”

Their classmates laughed and Adrien grinned his eyes flicking to the crowd and back to Alix before she shrugged and Marinette found he was looking at her and he was chewing on his lips, his eyes practically glowing in the warm sunlight.

“I go running.” He smiled and the crowd laughed again and Marinette felt her face burn and her heart catch almost painfully in her chest. She felt at once like both fire and ice and she felt herself frown in Adrien’s direction, but he simply smiled back at her. The teasing light was gone from his eyes, but his _smile_ . Marinette felt her brows furrow, the ice in her veins returning, her skin deaf to the heat of the summer sun. He was hiding something, but this time he wasn’t smiling to to _cover_ sadness or apathy, the gentle smile was holding something _back_. His lips twitched and Marinette realized with a shock she could perfectly picture the look his face would otherwise hold: a wild grin hiding a secret that threatened to leak out at any second.

Marinette blinked, her thoughts derailing as she shifted her gaze to Alix and Kim. They were grinning at each other and Marinette, shaking her head to clear the confusion, turned to Adrien to make sure he was ready and he offered her a confident smile.

“One more point.”

“We got this.” She felt a grin slide across her lips as the words left her mouth and Adrien’s smile quirked to the side, a shallow dimple creasing one of his cheeks.

“Of course.”  
  
Kim’s serves were hard and fast and Marinette held her breath, forcing herself to keep her eyes forward and not look back to see what Adrien was doing behind her and when she heard the sound of skin contracting rubber she smiled and looked up to see the ball sailing just over the net. Alix dove deftly forward and gave the ball the gentlest of lobs upwards and almost too late Marinette noticed Kim rushing forward. Eyeing the ball’s trajectory, high and near the net, she rushed forward, diving almost blindly forward and, wincing past the pain of the bruise that was already forming on the back of her thumb and wrist she hit the ball as high and as straight as she could manage.

Adrien must’ve seen her rush forward because he was under the ball in seconds, leaping and slamming the ball over Kim and Alix’s heads. The two sportiest of their classmates sighed heavily in unison before getting into something of a playful wrestling match as they argued over whose fault the loss was.

Marinette could hear their classmates whooping and cheering over the pounding of her heart as she half-sat half-laid in the sand, her pulse pounding in her face and chest. Her muscles were wilting like they did after a particularly drawn out akuma battle, but with no supersuit or secret identity to hide she’d lost the will to stand.  Now all she wanted was shade and water. She shifted her gaze to the umbrella to find Juleka politely applauding before she head steps in the sand coming in her direction. She glanced up to Adrien who was beaming at her, something like pride seeming to make him almost glow, but Marinette checked those thoughts as they crossed her mind. Sunshine boy always glowed in direct lighting, it wasn’t _her_.

“And I thought those were lucky jumps earlier.” She sounded nearly breathless, even to herself, but there wasn’t even a flicker of the tumultuous tone her voice usually affected around Adrien. Who knew all she needed to gain complete control of her lips and limbs around Adrien was to be exhausted out of her mind?

His eyebrows shot up behind his bangs, the playful smile at his lips again and Marinette couldn’t help the suspicious scowl that furrowed her brows. Something was going on in that boy's head, but she just couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

“Oh, I’m never lucky.” He said it with such _glee_ Marinette was sure she’d heard the words wrong. She felt her scowl deepen and his expression shifted to something akin to appreciation and Marinette felt her heart try to both stop and quicken as it lurched. Tingles ran down her arms to her fingers as he stopped in front of her, smiling a gentle sort of smile she’d only had the pleasure of seeing twice in her life. “That must be you.”  Marinette stared at him, her heart freezing as she watched him half bend over his knees reaching down for her, his other hand tapping restlessly against the side of his leg; his bright green gaze both gentle in its fondness and near to bursting with pent up energy.

Recovering slightly, her heart still pounding excitedly and even with denial ringing in her ears she began to brush sand off her legs, preparing herself to accept his offer; it would’ve be rude not to. Her mind was both blankly numb and a chattering din before his words sliced coolly through the heated chaos of her thoughts.

“Need a hand, My Lady?”  
  
She’d accepted his hand, an excited shiver running up her arm, her mind still skipping as he lifted her to a standing position. She blinked at him dully, her thoughts slamming to a stop as she caught herself and snapped to attention, everything shattering as she flinched and stared at him.

He smiled at her, excitement still leaking out behind a rather modest smile, as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, his hands slipping into the pockets of his swim shorts . Everything slid back into place as Marinette felt her heart go from a dead stop to a roar in her ears, heat snaking up her neck to splash haphazardly across her face.

“I-” she stumbled over her words and he nodded along with the bounces. “You-” She could feel her fingers trembling as she pointed at him and he nodded waving his fingers playfully at her. The sunlight glinted off the silver ring on his fourth finger and Marinette felt herself sink down into the ground again. Her face was fire and everything was terrible and wonderful.

“Agreste!” Alya’s call was loud, sharp and scarily calm and Marinette felt herself flinch. Oh she’d forgotten there were people _watching_ . “What’d you _do_?!”

Why couldn’t he have waited until later? _Stupid cat._

She relaxed a little from her overwhelmed ball to glance up as Alya marched across the sand, her hands at her hips. She turned to look at Adrien who was glancing between them, worried Chat all over his expression. Marinette felt her lips curl against her arms, fighting and failing to keep the most often used cat expression in the universe out of her mind.  _The cat’s out of the bag._  He made a small squeaking sound as Alya approached the edge of the court and Marinette decided to put on her Ladybug face, after all, her kitty was in trouble. Unrolling completely she pushed herself into a standing position.

“Alya, I just o-overheated a little, it’s fine.” The words were almost smooth, almost professional and Alya paused in her march, her brows relaxing as she glanced from the rather meek looking Adrien and back to a still flushed Marinette.

“You sure?” Her brows furrowed again, this time glancing between the two of them, suspicious. Marinette nodded quickly and Alya hesitated a second before Nino, saint that he was, walked up, swung his arm around Alya’s waist and lead her away, pitching a celebratory drink to a good game played and the lycee students around them cheered.

“ _Kitty_ .” She could almost feel the growl in her voice as she continued to stare after her friends. It would be easier to talk to him like this, if she could hear Chat and not see Adrien. She felt goosebumps trace across her skin in a wave as she could near feel Adrien’s stare on the back of her neck. She was desperate to sneak a look, but terrified to look up and not see Adrien wearing Chat’s smile. There was no way even _Tikki_ was this lucky.

“Yes?” he hummed over her shoulder and Marinette spared him a glance, smiling when their gazes met and he flustered away from her, clearly surprised that she had turned towards him when he was so close. “We need to work on your timing.”

“That was a perfect spike.” He gave her a nudge with his shoulder and she glanced at him to find  Chat Noir’s smirk on Adrien Agreste’s model face and it almost broke her, excited shivers chasing up and down her arms. She stared at him for longer than was necessary as they walked to pick up their bags and his eyebrows quirked curiously before she forced herself to look away. Deciding to ignore the solution to her romantic dilemma that had presented itself so neatly in front of her, she continued her earlier train of thought.

“You had to, um, _enlighten_ me _then?_ ”

His gaze flickered to their classmates for a moment before he shrugged, swinging his bag over his shoulder quickly and Marinette heard an annoyed hiss as the bag swung into his leg. Well, that’s where his Kwami was, she bit back a smile as she turned to him for an answer.

“It was the _puurrfect_ opportunity.”

“Ugh. Really?” She felt her lips slide into a smile despite herself and Adrien grinned at her as they walked side by side towards their friends. “I don’t think I’ve even begun to wrap my mind around this.” Her hands flapped excitedly between them, too much energy was surging through her for her to properly gesticulate. “And you’re throwing out _cat puns._ ”

“You love it.” He grinned cheekily down at her and Marinette felt herself flush happily as Tikki bumped excitedly against her hip, the whole bag practically vibrating at her side.

“I do,” she sighed as she bumped his hips playfully and he broke into a loud laugh, one she’d never heard from Adrien before, but one she knew from Chat gliding freely through the skies of Paris behind her.

“And you shouldn’t worry about freckles.” Her heart skipped at the suddenness of his words and she glanced up at him, curious as he shifted in the sand beside her. They were fast approaching their friends and Marinette watched as he dropped his gaze to stare the the tops of his sandals. “They’re c-cute.”

Marinette’s heart lurched as she stumbled a step and Adrien sped off in front of her, cat-green eyes flickering to her for only a moment as Marinette felt the blush singe its way across her cheeks, her stomach swimming not unpleasantly.

Tikki was right, she _did_ have a crush on Chat Noir, and Alya was right Adrien _did_ think her freckles were cute. She glanced up again to find Adrien watching her curiously and when she smiled at him he beamed back. Heart skipping happily near her throat Marinette rolled her lips together and picked her way around her classmates towards where her friends sat. Despite being one of the more prominent flaws Tikki liked to remind her of (her need to be right), Marinette found she didn’t mind being wrong quite so much as she normally did.

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to stop editing it so I decided to post it. It's my first ML fic and my first fanfic in a while (first for AO3 as well) so please send me feedback if you have any! Thanks for reading!


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